Revival: A Novel

In a small New England town, over half a century ago, a shadow falls over a small boy playing with his toy soldiers. Jamie Morton looks up to see a striking man, the new minister. Charles Jacobs, along with his beautiful wife, will transform the local church. The men and boys are all a bit in love with Mrs. Jacobs; the women and girls feel the same about Reverend Jacobs - including Jamie’s mother and beloved sister, Claire. With Jamie, the Reverend shares a deeper bond based on a secret obsession.

I purposely waited to read the newest one from Stephen King, "Revival." I wanted to wait for the fan fair to be over and give this book a chance. Many Constant Readers agrees that Stephen King is a much different writer than before. He hasn't wrote a gripping story since "11/22/63" and that was in 2011. All of his novels after that have been sub par at best where I don't consider myself as a Constant Reader anymore. He has become my least favorite author to follow.

Before you find this review to be not helpful, please read on to my theory of the great King of horror.

I really think that Stephen King is trying to make amends and perhaps throughout his recent books, he is writing an autobiography through his characters. Besides "On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft" and interviews, we know that SK had a problem with alcohol and drugs. He even say that he was high on booze and dope, when he wrote "Carrie."

All of his characters has some kind of addiction and trying to find redemption. It's always the same pattern in most of this books, especially recently. Maybe that's why many of his fans has lost their faith in horror from the King.

"Revival" follows the same pattern. Stephen King is trying to explain his past in the most arcaded way that I don't understand, but somehow it all fits. SK is trying to tell his life in pieces throughout his novels. The main character is also an drug addict and an musician. He meets a pastor that cure people through electricity and playing God. There is a dilemma from right or wrong and let's not forget the constant message from SK on smoking. Maybe the shadow is a metaphor from King's past.

I was about to give this book a bad review because after time travel and JFK, Stephen King has been a total disappointment for many because all of his books has been lack luster before his horror days. After having an epiphany on why SK changed his style all of a sudden, I finally understand what he is doing.

I will read more from Stephen King to see how he redeem himself from his vice.

I hope that this review was helpful to the Constant Reader that miss the young author that freaked us through the night. Hopefully, he will have one last horror before he meet his maker.

The Innovators: How a Group of Hackers, Geniuses, and Geeks Created the Digital Revolution

Following his blockbuster biography of Steve Jobs, The Innovators is Walter Isaacson’s revealing story of the people who created the computer and the Internet. It is destined to be the standard history of the digital revolution and an indispensable guide to how innovation really happens. What were the talents that allowed certain inventors and entrepreneurs to turn their visionary ideas into disruptive realities? What led to their creative leaps? Why did some succeed and others fail?

"The Innovators" is a history book of bits and bytes of computing and the Internet. Walter Isaacson does an excellent job at explaining the technology and introducing the great founders such as Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Paul Allen, and many others. Also, the history goes into the first social network, The WELL. You don't have to know how to write code to enjoy this book. This author does not dwell on one subject over and over. He tells you the history of the person and their invention and then moves on to the next item. Over 50 years of computing in this book.

I like to know how things work, like a diesel engine. Nothing is smoke and mirrors. There is always a process behind it. There are no hamsters running on a spinning wheel behind the curtain. Every line of code has a purpose. There is a reason why your cursor blinks and why your searches appears instantly before you type.

"The Innovators" is an important book to my generation and the future. It is like our almanac, but instead of keeping track of the weather each year, we are always updating to the newest technology.

I haven't read this good of a book on technology since I read "The Master Switch" by Tim Wu.

A Quantum Murder: The Greg Mandel Trilogy, Book 2

Dr Edward Kitchener, a brilliant researcher into quantum cosmology, lies dead with his lungs spread out on either side of his open chest. Only a mercenary or professional killer could have breached the premier-grade security system - but why would a professional waste time in ritual slaughter? Greg Mandel, psi-boosted ex-private eye, is enticed out of retirement to launch an investigation into a past which - according to Kitchener’s theories - might never have happened.

Science fiction murder mystery makes a great combo when you have Peter F. Hamilton writing. "A Quantum Murder" is the second book in the Greg Mandel trilogy. I read the first book sometime last year and I have forgotten to continue on with the series. The first few chapters was confusing because I forgot all about the main character, who is a sci fi detective. There is less action in the second edition than in the first book, "Mindstar Rising."

"A Quantum Murder" is better because Hamilton is known for his space opera. He goes more in depth into the high tech world and trying to solve the murder case. I need to write myself a reminder to finish the trilogy soon.

Working Stiff: Two Years, 262 Bodies, and the Making of a Medical Examiner

Just two months before the September 11 terrorist attacks, Dr. Judy Melinek began her training as a New York City forensic pathologist. With her husband and their toddler holding down the home front, Judy threw herself into the fascinating world of death investigation-performing autopsies, investigating death scenes, and counseling grieving relatives. Working Stiff chronicles Judy's two years of training, taking listeners behind the police tape of some of the most harrowing deaths in the Big Apple.

262 stories of dead bodies from a Medical Examiner. Old age, suicides, murders and even malpractice cases, Dr. Judy Melinek has seen it all as a forensic pathologist. She was even there when the Towers fell and had to examined the incoming bodies from the terrorist's event.

"Working Stiff" is her story about being a forensic pathologist in New York City. An real life CSI doctor, but without the lights, cameras, and bad scripts. Fascinating book on autopsies. Pretty wild how they can trace back the cause of death by examining the corpse.

This book is not for the faint of heart, but Dr. Melinek explains her career thoroughly. I highly suggest to not to Google "dead corpse." The pictures are much more horrifying then this book.

Football 101

This is an entertaining, informative beginner's guide to understanding football. Also, I guarantee* that this is the most enjoyable introductory audiobook ever about football, and that after listening to this audiobook you will know and love the game.

"Football 101" is kind of disappointing. I wanted to know more about the penalties in the game. Don't really care about the different positions because throw the ball, catch the ball, and run the ball. Football is actually a simple sport, but when the ref throws the yellow flag, the game gets confusing.

Too much field talk and not enough about the rules. Unless you never watch football, you don't really need this guide book. The game is easy to follow if you have a favorite team. Just watch the game.

My Early Life

One of the classic volumes of autobiography, My Early Life is a lively and colourful account of a young man's quest for action, adventure and danger. Churchill's schooldays are undistinguished, but he is admitted to Sandhurst and embarks on a career as a soldier and a war correspondent, seeing action in Cuba, in India, in the Sudan - where he took part in the battle of Omdurman, of which he gives us a stirring account - and finally in South Africa.

It was pretty awesome to hear about the early life of Winston Churchill. I'm a big fan of this great diplomat and have learned about him religiously when I was in school. He was one of the best speech writers of all time. When Churchill spoke, his voice rumbled through the air waves like no other. There hasn't been a leader with this great enthusiasm throughout our history like Winston Churchill.

"My Early Life" is something that he wrote prior to World War II. Great sentence structure and great arguments for his time and you can see the outline shaping of his memorable speeches in this book. The man was a genus on how to get things in order.

"My Early Life" is a blog on paper. Churchill needed to get things off his chest and what better way to do it than writing a book on his complains. When listening to this book, I was imagining Churchill, sitting down in my living room sofa, just ranting. I enjoyed every second of it. In my opinion, there is no one that delivers like Winston Churchill. The fury in his speeches are almost perfect.

The Son

Part epic of Texas, part classic coming-of-age story, part unflinching portrait of the bloody price of power, The Son is an utterly transporting novel that maps the legacy of violence in the American West through the lives of the McCulloughs, an ambitious family as resilient and dangerous as the land they claim. Spring, 1849: Eli McCullough is 13 years old when a marauding band of Comanches takes him captive. Brave and clever, Eli quickly adapts to life among the Comanches, learning their ways and waging war against their enemies, including white men - which complicates his sense of loyalty and understanding of who he is.

It's really hard for me to say that "The Son" is a modern classic. Cowboys, Indians, Texas, and Oil. There are three stories blended together and fails to explain about the McCulloughs'. While this book is worth reading, the plot is very disjointed. Every American Classic that I read have some kind of tragedy and hardship. "The Son" didn't really have neither. There is no epic sense of a mass story of pain and sorrow. It's pretty much how Texas turned into Black Gold.

As a Western, I was expecting more bloodshed, but there were none. Maybe I missed the story in this book, but I was disappointed throughout the plot. Having five different narrators was very distracting and it felt like an over budget episode of Dallas. I was hoping "The Son" would been like Bonanza.

1776

Why we think it’s a great listen: If you ever thought history was boring, David McCullough’s performance of his fascinating book will change your mind. In this stirring audiobook, McCullough tells the intensely human story of those who marched with General George Washington in the year of the Declaration of Independence, when the whole American cause was riding on their success.

A good friend of mine got me into audiobooks many years ago. He let me borrow his copy of "1776", the birth of United States. Ever since then, I've been fascinated with David McCullough and have listened to all of his books. He can do no wrong when he writes about history. This is my second time at listening to this book and it's like getting a front row seat in class, especially when David McCullough narrating his book.

When Audible had "1776" on sale, I had to buy it to have it in my library. If my friend didn't lend me his copy of the audiobook, I would had ever had discover the best historian of all times. David McCullough is like a grandparent that you wish that you had because you can appreciate when they speak. The knowledge from this man is second to none.

Contact

The future is here...in an adventure of cosmic dimension. In December, 1999, a multinational team journeys out to the stars, to the most awesome encounter in human history. Who - or what - is out there? In Cosmos, Carl Sagan explained the universe. In Contact, he predicts its future - and our own.

Carl Sagan is one of my childhood heroes. I remember being glued to the television when I first watched Cosmos. That show explained a lot about the universe and I wanted to know more. Maybe because of Carl Sagan, I started to like science fiction.

I really think that Sagan wrote "Contact" to be understood from his naysayers. Although he was an Astronomer and a scientist, Sagan was deemed by most religious groups as an devil worshiper because he believed in evolution and because of his popular tv show, he was dismissed from the believers. I think he wrote his book to better explain himself as being an Atheist and more importantly there is life beyond Earth.

If you read closely on this sci fi story, there are bits and pieces of Sagan's life and what he is trying to explain. He tries to explain that God is not man, but God is the universe.

"Contact" is one of the most complex sci fi story that I have ever read because I want to know more on this author and a great man that left us too soon. His explanation of the Black Holes made sense to me to this day. I still go back and watch some of the old episodes and get chills on how wonderful teacher he once was.

Born to a prominent Chicago judge and his stifled socialite wife, Mia Dennett moves against the grain as a young inner-city art teacher. One night, Mia enters a bar to meet her on-again, off-again boyfriend. But when he doesn't show, she unwisely leaves with an enigmatic stranger. With his smooth moves and modest wit, Colin Thatcher seems at first like a safe one-night stand. But following Colin home will turn out to be the worst mistake of Mia's life.

I'm not too sure why "The Good Girl" is getting compare to "Gone Girl." The two stories are not similar to each other or from the same author. "The Good Girl" is not a sequel to the other book. I don't know why there are so many comparisons between the two.

Mary Kubica's book is more like a hostage mystery. The main character who happens to be a female gets kidnap and the conversation between the two begins and there is always a twist. I don't think this book is in the right genre. There are no guns blazing, but it isn't a psychological thriller either.

It's really hard to explain because after a while, you hope that the good girl will somehow stay with the bad guy.

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